Thorburn: Number of tournament bids for Pac-12 still anyone's guess

Arizona guard Mark Lyons and the Wildcats are tied with Oregon for first place in the Pac-12.
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Dean Hare
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There are seven teams bunched between 7-2 and 5-4 in the Pac-12 standings halfway through the conference schedule.

Arizona is ranked in the top 10 nationally but tied with Oregon for first place.

Arizona State is surprisingly good. Oregon State is surprisingly bad.

UCLA, tied with the Sun Devils for third, has beaten Arizona and Colorado on the road. The Bruins have also lost to in-state foes Cal Poly, San Diego State and USC at home.

The Buffs have some solid non-conference wins, an impressive RPI and a disappointing 4-5 conference record. Tad Boyle's talented young team heads into a tough road trip tied with USC for eighth.

The Pac-12 is clearly better than it was last season when Washington won the regular-season title and still settled for the NIT.

But how many teams will the NCAA Tournament selection committee take from the group ranked sixth in conference RPI?

"As far as getting teams into the tournament, I'm not sure it helps us," Oregon's Dana Altman said on the subject of Pac-12 parity during Tuesday's coaches teleconference with the media.

Barring late-season collapses, Arizona and Oregon are locks to receive at-large bids. Arizona State, CU and UCLA will play their way in or out over the next nine games.

Up and down Cal, Stanford and Washington appear to be destined for the NIT or CBI, unless one of them cuts down the nets at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

Oregon State, Utah, USC and Washington State are all on track to have losing seasons. Three of these programs could be in the market for a new head coach come March.

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"Obviously at the midway point Oregon and Arizona have separated themselves a little bit," said Boyle, who saw CU's three-game winning streak come to an end at Utah last Saturday. "I see those two teams as probably the most consistent of the bunch. ... Parity is the norm in our league right now."

Missing Carson in Corvallis

Arizona State, picked 11th in the preseason media poll, is 17-5 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-12. Oregon State, predicted to finish eighth, is currently in last place with a 1-8 conference mark (11-11 overall).

The difference between the two programs this year is Jahii Carson.

The Sun Devils' dynamic point guard is averaging 21.7 points over the last seven games and has already broken the Arizona State freshman record for assists with 116.

Carson originally committed to Oregon State before changing his mind and choosing to play for Herb Sendek in Tempe.

"I just love the way he's breaking down defenses," said Beavers coach Craig Robinson. "It's disappointing not getting him here, but I guess you get a moral victory knowing you can evaluate talent."

Carson is the front-runner to win the Pac-12 freshman of the year award with UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson and Oregon's Damyean Dotson also in the mix.

Huestis heating up

Since scoring six points during Stanford's 75-54 loss at CU on Jan. 24, Josh Huestis has averaged 14.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in wins over Utah, Oregon State and Oregon.

The junior forward is the Pac-12 player of the week.

"I think Josh is very competitive, he has good instincts for blocking shots and rebounding-wise he's relentless," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said.

Huestis is the first Cardinal to earn the conference player of the week award this season.

National numbers

Arizona moved up to No. 7 in the polls after sweeping the Washington schools on the road last week. Oregon was dropped from No. 10 to No. 19 by both the Associated Press after getting swept in the Bay Area.

UCLA, 37th in the AP and 39th in the USA Today Coaches poll, was the only other Pac-12 team to receive votes.

Arizona (4), CU (25), Oregon (27) and UCLA (44) are inside the top 50 of the NCAA official RPI this week.

Arizona State (63), Stanford (67), Washington (69) and Cal (70) are top 100. USC (110), Oregon State (162), Utah (165) and Washington State (165) are outside the top 100.

Notable

Oregon was averaging 14.7 assists and 15.3 turnovers per game with Dominic Artis in the lineup. Without the injured point guard, who Altman says is "day to day" entering CU's visit to Eugene, those averages have shifted to 10 assists and 21.7 turnovers over the last three games. ... Mike Montgomery, the current Cal coach and longtime Stanford coach, is now one win shy of tying former Washington coach Hec Edmundson (1921-47) for fourth place among the conference's winningest coaches. Montgomery owns a 265-140 record in conference games. ... Arizona's Lute Olson (327-101, 1984-2007), UCLA's John Wooden (304-74, 1949-75) and Oregon State's Slats Gil (276-241) rank 1-3 for wins in the conference.

Quotable

"Our guys never gave up, they stayed focused ... our guys are tough mentally," USC interim coach Bob Cantu on the Trojans' blowing a 15-point lead in regulation and then beating rival UCLA in overtime last week at Pauley Pavilion.

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